It is very often desirable to clean a gas stream of particulates and/or undesirable gases. It is sometimes desirable to remove particulates or selective gases for capture or disposal from a gas stream by absorption or mixing with a liquid. It is also becoming more desirable and popular to clean air in domestic settings, particularly the removal of spores, bacteria, and viruses due to the current biological threats by terrorists. Other domestic pollutants include, but are not limited to, auto emissions, smoke, allergens such as pollen, mites, pet dandruff, hair and dead skin and dust, and gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and odors.
Several methods are currently used to clean or partially clean gases such as air in a domestic setting. Some of the most common methods of “cleaning air” are the utilization of filter systems, electrostatic devices, and venturi scrubbers which are less economical than the present invention.
Viruses, bacteria, spores, small particulate and some small insects such as some small baby spiders, often float in air currents and can even circle the earth. It is said that such minute living beings can travel to outer space and live for over one thousand years, even though exposed to extreme temperatures and radiation. Also, high levels of ozone in the air that we breathe causes breathing problems, especially in the elderly, children, and people with impaired lungs. The oxygen molecule has two atoms of oxygen and the ozone molecule has three oxygen atoms. The third oxygen atom in an ozone molecule makes the ozone molecule an extremely reactive radical molecule and, when breathed, it reacts with body parts and destroys them. Such pollution in the air that we breath is said to be deadly, to shorten lives, and to lead to lung cancer and other serious health effects. It is therefore not reasonable to assume that the gravitational force of only one gravity can totally and efficiently remove such small pollutants from the domestic air that we breathe in a reasonable time period, and accordingly, it is generally considered that there are more pollutants in the home than outside the home. Yet, it is very easy to provide a high centrifugal force with air at the surface of a flowing liquid, and to impact the surface of such flowing liquid with the air at a high velocity to mix and remove the undesirable elements from the air.
It is a desire to provide an improved and more economical method and apparatus for removing particulates and selected gases from a gas stream by flowing and impacting the liquid face of a stream of flowing liquid at a high velocity and centrifugal force with the gas stream. It is a further desire to convey a stream of gas through a stream of liquid at a high velocity to mix the gas and liquid and to remove the undesirable parts from the gas by absorption with the liquid. It is a still further desire to centrifugally remove retained liquids, wetted particulates, and heavier parts from the gas stream by flowing the gas stream at a high rotational rate through a cyclone.